Students take first place at Innovation Encounter

A team of six Calvin students took first place in the 2010 "Innovation Encounter" - an inventive problem solving competition hosted by Lawrence Tech University.

On Friday, October 29, 2010, teams from Lawrence Tech, University of Detroit-Mercy, Illinois Institute of Technology, St. Louis University, Ohio Northern University and Calvin College, were given five hours to come up with a new idea for a smart phone application to interface with vehicle systems.

Calvin's team presented their idea, which took the top prize of $1,500. The team was made up of engineering, business and computer science students.

Megan Odegaard, a senior business major, said that the collaboration among the students from three different disciplines was the key factor in the team's success.

"I finally felt like I understood the reason why Calvin is a liberal arts school," said Odegaard. "It was great to see the team using not only the educational backgrounds that we each offered, but also our own individual strengths."

And Odegaard thinks that this competition served as a good model for the type of collaboration she expects in her future career.

" ... when we start our careers many of us (students from different disciplines) will be working closely together," said Odegaard. "If this sort of collaboration continues, Calvin students will be much more prepared (than students who focus solely on one discipline) when they enter the workforce."

For more info on the competition, visit http://myinnovationencounter.com or contact Calvin engineering professor Randall Brouwer at 616-526-7078.

-end-
Received on Fri Nov 5 11:16:57 2010